


Not So Stupid

by Tarlan



Category: Eureka
Genre: Community: smallfandomfest, Community: trope_bingo, First Time, Humor, M/M, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-14
Updated: 2013-07-14
Packaged: 2017-12-20 04:56:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/883192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Nathan realizes Jack might not be quite as stupid as his High School I.Q. test made out, he starts a little scientific experiment of his own, with an interesting result.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not So Stupid

**Author's Note:**

> Written for **SmallFandomFest** FEST13 2013  
>  Also meets: Trope_Bingo Round Two: Poor communication skills

Nathan read the report through once, and then again, having lost interest in mocking the poor spelling when he began to notice a pattern. He'd seen some of Carter's reports before but it was obvious now that someone manually checked them over before they reached his desk. Probably Allison, who was away at a medical conference this week. Except he'd read Carter's reports while she was away before and.... Nathan frowned when he noticed someone trying to hack his inbox to retrieve the report.

"Fargo!"

He heard a distinctive squeak and moments later Fargo was on the threshold looking extremely uncomfortable.

"I was just reading a report... of Carter's."

Fargo cringed, which at least confirmed that he'd been the one trying to recall the document.

"You have something you want to tell me?"

Fargo slumped, looking pitiful and pleading. "Please don't tell Doctor Blake. I promised to check the report before sending it through and I got distracted when Larry tripped over and spilled coffee all over the Doctor Hassan's talking petunia, which told Larry to go bury himself, so Larry..." he continued on at a pace, "...and I accidentally pressed-."

"Enough!" Nathan rubbed a hand over his forehead, feeling a headache building. He pressed a few keys and brought up a page onto the large screen in his office, seeing Fargo visibly cringe again as he took in all the errors. "Notice a pattern?"

"Huh?" Fargo stopped cringing as Nathan's words made him curious, and he stepped in closer. "He was pretty exhausted when he wrote it?" Fargo offered up a fake grin as if that would appease Nathan.

"Look again." Nathan waited a few seconds and then tapped out several words where all the letters were there but not necessarily in the correct order. "Poor written grades. Poor vocabulary. Failed Lupo's written gun test twice but nailed it on an oral exam."

Fargo's eyes widened. "He has dyslexia?"

Nathan gave a smug grin because it certainly explained how Sheriff ' _I.Q. 111_ ' could run rings around him and his scientists with sideways leaps of logic, seeing solutions from angles that no one else had even considered. The man wasn't stupid. He was ignorant due to the poor education system that seemed to think everyone should see the world in exactly the same way - a one size fits all. Something Nathan knew all about as he had put a lot of effort into studying any path that might help Kevin overcome some of the difficulties caused by his autism. Dyslexia was just one of the many topics covered. It was only in the last ten years that it had been taken seriously, with more and more teachers looking for ways to alleviate the ' _problems_ ' suffered by up to ten percent of the population to varying degrees.

But this was still all conjecture on Nathan's part. What he needed to do was run a series of tests on Carter to get a baseline on Carter's true level of intelligence. Being the director of one of the most highly advanced facilities in the entire world gave him access to everything he needed at the press of a button. Except in this case where all he had to do was give an order to Fargo.

"Get me Doctor Suenos."

Ten minutes later, Suenos was stepping into his office looking extremely worried.

"Doctor Suenos. I was looking back through your academic record, and I have a side project for you."

****

Jack frowned as he sat down at the table in Suenos's dream lab.

"Stupid contract," he muttered, and not for the first time. Allison had told him he should have read it from cover to cover before signing. Not that it would have done a whole lot of good as he never understood half of what he read anyway.

"We're going to start off with a basic I.Q. test to gauge your level."

"What? No! I think everyone in the town already knows that," he added sourly.

"I promise you, this is different from what you took at high school."

"Look, I'm just not very good at written tests, okay? So why don't we forget this and you go find some other person to experiment on."

Suenos shrugged. "Sorry. You're part of the test group."

Jack groaned, and then narrowed his eyes. "It's not going to be like that sleep study... again. No brain rays or funny light shows."

Suenos held up both hands. "No. Nothing like that. Just some basic tests."

Jack heaved a heavy sigh of resignation. He hated written tests. The words all looked weird to him unless he could picture them as an image in his head. He could see trees and dogs and rockets and even death rays and ice cones of death in glorious Technicolor... but not other words like tetra-floor-what's its-claw-something or other.

"Come on," Suenos wheedled. "You might like some of these."

Jack slumped in his seat, arms crossed belligerently as Suenos put the test paper in front of him, then reached forward to pick up the pen.

"I hated school," he mumbled. He stared hard at Suenos, who started to look a little uncomfortable under his gaze. "Are you going to sit there and watch me?"

"Yes."

Jack sighed. "This just gets better and better."

Once he'd completed the I.Q. test, Suenos gave him some other puzzles to solve. One was a 3D puzzle, which he'd never tried before and actually enjoyed. He could see it forming in his mind, instinctively knowing where each piece would fit, but then he'd always been good at jigsaw puzzles and in seeing things in his head from different angles and piecing together little clues to make a whole scene. It's what had made him a good field agent and such a great pitcher before the car crash destroyed his dreams of becoming a professional baseball player. It was also probably what saved his life when that kid hooked on super-speed attacked him. He could visualize exactly where the kid would be even though he was moving almost faster than the eye could see, and pitched accordingly.

Two hours later, Suenos let him go, and Jack didn't hang around just in case Suenos changed his mind, high-tailing it back to his utility vehicle at top speed. He didn't relax until Global Dynamics was little more than a speck in the rear view mirror.

***

As soon as Carter left, looking like all the demons in Hell were on his tail, Nathan stepped into Suenos's laboratory and took the seat Carter had just vacated.

"So! How did our little experiment go?"

Suenos steepled his fingers, tapping them against his lips thoughtfully before reaching for all the test results.

"You were right. I.Q. is actually 142 using the progressive tests developed within the last ten years, but the difference between his reading and written skills compared to what you would expect from someone of that intellectual level is fairly pronounced. Grammar and spelling are particularly poor. On other tests, verbal comprehension is superior, but processing speed is slow, which explains the poor written exam results. Spatial 3D reasoning is exceptional, which explains his ability to pull all those seemingly random and unconnected ideas together. Dynamic reasoning is also superior, making him able to function exceptionally well despite unknown variables or environments."

"So he does have dyslexia."

"He's... on the spectrum, which would have made school barely tolerable for him. Attention deficiency, short term memory, and an inability to comprehend what's written on the board or in the book in front of him, relying more on imagery. Yet it's clear from his school reports and his perseverance on the entrance exams for the LAPD and U.S. Marshals that he pushed himself harder than most kids to get what he wanted. He's a very determined individual. It's also clear from duty reports that he was considered extremely capable in the field and was one of their top fugitive hunters with an uncanny ability to second guess where the felon would run."

Nathan pondered over all of this for a few minutes. "Einstein is now considered dyslexic. He barely finished school."

Suenos nodded, no doubt already knowing this as his thesis for his doctorate had been a study on the impact of dyslexia in modern society, which was why Nathan had called him in on this 'science experiment'.

"Well, the Sheriff is no Einstein, but he's definitely underestimated. Some of the greatest minds, visionaries and innovators in history are now considered to be on the spectrum with dyslexia, Asperger's and Autism. Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Pierre Curie, Michael Faraday, to name but a few." Suenos sat back. "So what do you plan to do with this information?"

Nathan shrugged. "Nothing. Just satisfying my curiosity." He stood up and smiled. "I'll let you get back to your dream studies, Doctor Suenos."

As he walked away, Nathan smiled to himself, hoping Suenos had noticed that he hadn't asked him to keep all of this to himself. He was hoping Suenos would not be able to resist telling someone - like Vincent, who would end up whispering it to half the town before the week was out.

***

"142?!" 

Jack blinked when Zoe placed a Vinspresso down in front of him just a little harder than necessary, looking surprised by her harsh whisper that could be heard clear across to where Nathan was sipping his Vinspresso in a nearby booth. 

"When were you going to tell me?"

"What?"

"Your I.Q., dad. 142."

"What are you talking about?"

"The I.Q. test you took with Doctor Suenos."

"Wait. What?"

She grinned abruptly. "Way to go, dad." Then moved off to serve another customer while Jack stood there looking confused.

Nathan smiled behind his Vinspresso, noticing how others were now eying their Sheriff with interest as he walked out of Café Diem slower and with less bounce than his entry moments earlier. Carter had been the butt of the ' _norm_ ' jokes since he inadvertently blurted out that he had an I.Q. of 111. Exactly average. Since then he'd had to work a lot harder to gain any respect from the numerous over-achieving scientists in Eureka, though it always came eventually - if not begrudgingly - when he solved their problems and saved the town, and their lives along with it. Nathan knew he'd been just as guilty as the rest of them, and their competition over Allison had only made that worse.

Except Allison had turned him down, and instead of feeling broken-hearted, all he had felt was relief, as if he had just dodged a bullet. He knew part of that was because Allison must have shot down Carter too as he'd not had to deal with Carter crowing in victory over him.

Nathan waited until the next time Carter was called in to deal with some mess at Global. As the clean up began after yet another minor explosion, Nathan moved up next to Carter and leaned against the door frame, taking a moment to study Carter in profile before Carter noticed - or at least acknowledged - his presence.

"So, Sheriff. Smarter than Einstein after all. I'm referring to the dog, of course," he added with a smug grin.

Carter gave him a narrowed eyed, slightly sour look. "Of course."

Nathan frowned. "Would have thought you'd be pleased to know you're not the person with the lowest I.Q. in town after all."

"Yeah," but the downward curve of his mouth implied it was a sarcastic agreement rather than pleasure.

Nathan watched Carter walk away, seeing fresh tension that had little to do with the latest minor fiasco caused by Fargo. Curious, he made a decision to drop by Café Diem around the time Carter tended to take a late afternoon coffee break, and see if he could taunt Carter into revealing what was bugging him. It had always seemed to work in the past.

Nathan took a seat at the counter and tried for casual as Zoe set a Vinspresso in front of him. It occurred to him that maybe the reason Carter left this coffee break so late was because he knew Zoe would have started her after-school shift by then.

"Your father been in yet?" he asked casually, only to get a very familiar narrow-eyed 'Carter' look of suspicion.

"No. Not yet. Why?"

"Just wanted to know if I was going to be able to enjoy my coffee in peace."

Zoe looked at him for a beat longer before giving a soft exasperated sigh and moving up the counter to serve another customer. Moments later, the object of their discussion entered, casting concerned glances towards his daughter before plastering on a smile.

"Hey Zoe."

"Dad. One large Vinspresso coming up."

He was so preoccupied that he didn't notice Nathan at the counter until he was standing right next to him.

"Jack."

Carter blinked and then narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What do you want... _Nathan_?"

Nathan had a problem hiding the smirk raised by Carter's reaction to being called by his given name instead of being greeted as Carter or Sheriff; he shrugged nonchalantly.

"Just a friendly greeting to another _intelligent_ colleague."

And there came the uneasy look again at the mention of Carter's increased I.Q. result, but this time Nathan saw Carter cast a quick, concerned glance towards his daughter.

"Is there a problem not being the village idiot anymore? Though, technically, that hasn't really changed."

Annoyance filled the blue eyes and Nathan could see Carter fighting the urge to say something equally acerbic in response, casting eyes quickly towards Zoe, who was serving someone at the far end of the counter.

"There is when my daughter gets to take that position," he whispered angrily.

Confused, Nathan glanced across at Zoe and saw her eyes go wide as she made cutthroat gestures at him behind her father's back.

"She only scored 112 in your stupid I.Q. test," Jack continued.

"Really?"

Zoe was looking frantic now, and Nathan got it. She'd lied to her father over her high I.Q. test score, probably for the same reason that Carter was miserable now, wanting to protect each other's feelings. Nathan waited until Carter left, not surprised when Zoe came over almost immediately.

"Please don't tell him."

"You think he'd be annoyed to hear his daughter is smarter than most people in this town?"

"Not smarter than you though," she snapped back.

He raised his eyebrows. I.Q. levels were worn like badges of honor by many academics, and his was exceptionally high even in a town like Eureka. Not that he'd ever felt the need to compare brain sizes with anyone here, but those who cared about such things tended to find out his I.Q. level quickly enough. He hadn't pegged Zoe for one of those, but perhaps he should have after the way some people had treated her father when they thought he was simply average. Including him.

She sighed. "No. He wouldn't be annoyed that I'm smarter than most people here." Her lips tightened before she continued. "He'd be annoyed, disappointed _and_ embarrassed that I lied to him to spare his feelings."

Nathan grimaced, understanding her dilemma. "You need to tell him the truth... before someone else does."

She slumped, dropping her head to the counter in a move that was so reminiscent of her father. "I know."

Nathan resisted the urge to ruffle her hair. "Vinspresso to go?"

She lifted her head and rolled her eyes. "Coming right up, Doctor Stark."

He didn't see either of the Carters again until the following day when he decided to have dinner at the café rather than cook for himself, taking a booth near the back to avoid being interrupted while he ate. He was surprised when Jack sat down opposite uninvited, and glared at him accusingly.

"You knew, didn't you?"

"I know a lot of things, Jack. You have anything particular in mind?"

"Oh... Cut the crap, _Nathan_. You know exactly what I mean."

Nathan had to bite back on a grin again as Jack acknowledged that they were on first name terms now, even if it was begrudgingly. He remained silent as Vince approached to take his order, seeing the weird look in Vince's eyes when he turned to ask if Jack was joining Nathan this evening. For once Vince seemed too intrigued by this new development to berate Jack's Neanderthal tastes, taking the usual cheeseburger order without a word. Nathan thought about mentioning to Jack that he hadn't invited him to join him for dinner but decided he was equally intrigued enough to want to see where this would lead.

After Vince departed, Nathan leaned back a little.

"So Miss Carter has come clean?"

"Why did she lie to me? To spare my feelings?"

Nathan raised an eyebrow at Jack answering his own question.

"Okay, fine. She didn't want me to feel like I was the only average person in town."

"You've got a good kid there, Jack."

Jack scrubbed his hands roughly through his short hair, looking adorable and almost childlike in his actions. The tension and anger drained away and Jack turned those blue eyes on Nathan.

"Yeah. I have."

Vince chose that moment to deliver their drink order and for the first time ever, they socialized together, swapping gentle barbs at each other that bordered on flirting, and actually finding some common ground much to Nathan's surprise. When they parted company two hours later, he realized he had actually enjoyed having dinner with Jack, and rolled his eyes as Jack missed Vince's speculating look aimed at the both of them. By this time tomorrow, most of the town would know that they dined together but Nathan couldn't find it in him to give a damn.

Of course he should have been a little more circumspect, looking up from his desktop computer to find Allison stalking into his office with an indecipherable look that could only mean trouble. They hadn't spoken much since she turned him down, except for Global business, but this looked personal. Nathan leaned back.

"How was the medical conference, Allison?" But Allison wasn't so easily sidetracked.

"I thought you were better than this, Nathan."

Her harsh words surprised him. "Better than...?"

"I turned you down and now you're trying to stop me from having a relationship with Jack by flirting with him?"

Nathan blinked in surprise. He'd naturally assumed that Jack had made a move on Allison as soon as she made it clear that she wasn't interested in giving him a second chance, and that Jack had been shot down too. It never occurred to him that Allison might still be waiting for Jack to make that first move. 

So why hadn't Jack made a move on Allison?

As to her accusation, he'd never hidden his bisexuality from Allison but until recently, he hadn't consciously seen Jack as anything more than a rival for Allison's affection and a thorn in his side. Oh, he had noticed that the sheriff was good looking and had a great body but, again, he thought he'd been sizing up a rival rather than a potential lover. He must have been fooling himself because, in hindsight, he had been flirting last night with Jack, and he realized Jack had been flirting right back at him.

"Allie-."

"No." She held up both hands and sank into the seat in front of his desk, the anger draining out of her. "No. If Jack wants to be with me then he will..." She sighed.

"He will...?"

"He just... will."

"And if he doesn't?"

She smiled this time, "The answer's still no, Nathan." 

Nathan smiled back, no longer feeling the sting of rejection because in these last few minutes he had realized that there was something he wanted more than a second chance with Allison.

He wanted _any_ chance with Jack.

****

157.

Zoe had an I.Q. of 157, and if he wasn't so damned annoyed at her for lying to him and saying it was only 112 then he would be crowing from the tallest building in town. Immature? Definitely, though in hindsight, maybe he should have questioned her over the 112 as she'd certainly held her own against the brainiacs at school to win second prize at the Science Fair.

As for his own change in status, he had yet to decide why it should make any difference. He'd discovered that Nathan was behind the little scientific experiment performed by Doctor Suenos but it hadn't really changed anything about him. He was still the same person that he'd been when they all thought he had an I.Q. of 111. He hadn't grown smarter overnight and he hadn't changed jobs. He was still Sheriff Jack Carter, former U.S. Marshal, deserving of the same amount of respect no matter his I.Q. level, so why were some people treating him differently?

The biggest change in attitude seemed to have come from Nathan Stark, though it wasn't until he was lying in his bed drifting off to sleep that he realized they'd been flirting with each other over dinner in Café Diem. The thought snapped him awake.

Flirting.

Him and Nathan Stark.

Flirting.

With each other.

In what universe did that happen?

Okay. Fine. This universe, but he still couldn't quite wrap his head around the fact that Nathan Stark had openly flirted with him over dinner, especially as the banter... snark... had been no different to usual, except possibly with a little less bite behind it. Yet Jack could explain that away without needing an extra 31 points added to his I.Q. level.

Allison.

Or rather the lack of Allison standing at the apex of a macho rivalry triangle. He'd been so certain that Allison was going to agree to remarry Nathan that he'd finally let go of wanting her, only then realizing that as much as he loved her, he'd been more interested in stopping Nathan than getting the girl for himself.

Last night was an eye-opener, proving that he'd been flirting with Nathan from day one without knowing it - complete denial on his part - and whether Nathan realized it or not, Nathan had been flirting right back at him the whole time on a subconscious level. The problem now was what did he want to do about it?

Actually, he knew exactly what he wanted to do but he didn't have a clue how to go about getting the biggest brainiac in Eureka to start dating him. He couldn't even call on past experience because in every relationship in his past, he had been the one pursued; the cheerleaders throwing themselves at him, Angie Fairfield dragging him behind the bleachers and kissing the breath out of him, Marcus tackling him on the beach after they'd surfed that amazing wave right into shore. Even Abby had made the first move, telling him the name of the restaurant, date and time, and telling him to be there or she'd hunt him down.

He frowned as an idea struck him. If it had worked for Abby then maybe... His thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing.

"Go for Carter."

"Jack. It's Nathan. I was wondering if you were free for dinner tomorrow night."

"Uh. Sure."

"My house. 8 p.m. Bring beer."

The line disconnected before Jack could reply, and he looked at the handset for a moment.

"Well, that was..." Easy? Different?

Jack shrugged, glad he wouldn't have to explain anything to Zoe as she was on a study sleep-over that evening. He smiled. With any luck, he might be having a sleep-over of his own.

Dinner and many, many drinks later, while sitting out on the patio overlooking Nathan's extremely large swimming pool and back yard, Jack casually leaned across and kissed Nathan. The pleasure of just that simple first tentative touch shot through him like a Taser - electrifying - and when Nathan began to kiss him back, with strong hands grabbing and holding him, pulling him closer, Jack knew he never wanted this kiss to end.

Perhaps he never got his wish but the kiss ended only for another to begin, and then another until Nathan broke off completely, looking thoroughly debauched from Jack's hands in his hair, and breathing hard, with pupils blown wide with desire. He stood up, holding out a hand; Jack took it, letting Nathan pull him to his feet and lead him through the house to the bedroom.

The rest of the night was filled with the memory of bright shards of pleasure; of desperate kisses and hard touches, of fingers digging into flesh as Nathan pressed deep inside him, feeling like he might split in two even as he craved harder and faster and deeper. It was followed by the aching emptiness assuaged only by Nathan's arms enfolding him, holding him tightly pressed to his chest as Jack listened to the rhythm of Nathan's gradually slowing heart beat as they finally drifted to sleep - sated and content.

He awoke hours later to fingers and lips mapping his body, feeling the brush of Nathan's beard tickle against his stomach, breath catching in his throat as a hot mouth enveloped his morning-hard erection. Only once he'd been reduced to a gibbering wreck did Nathan let go and climb back up his body, kissing him deeply as he took Jack's hand and wrapped his fingers around Nathan's own hard cock. It took only a few strokes before he felt the heat of Nathan's release across his sweat-cooled skin, swallowing Nathan's gasp of pleasure in a kiss.

Pleasure-sated once more, they dozed for several minutes until Jack finally asked the one question that had been burning inside him.

"Why now, Nathan? Was it because you learned I'm not quite as stupid as you-."

"You were never stupid, Jack." Nathan had stopped his words with the press of fingers upon his lips. "I was, for not seeing what was right in front of me all along." Nathan grinned. "Just don't expect me to admit that too often."

"Oh, I don't know. I kind of like hearing you call yourself stupid."

Nathan rolled up onto one elbow so he could look down into Jack's teasing eyes. "I don't tend to make the same mistake twice."

"You nearly re-married Allison. If she'd said yes-."

"Fortunately, Allison isn't stupid... and I've never felt more relieved because it would have been a mistake." Nathan trailed his fingers down the center of Jack's chest, smiling as Jack's breath hitched. "This isn't."

When he leaned in to capture Jack's lips for the first of many more kisses, Jack was still smiling. 

END


End file.
